Konoha Notes

Chapter 17 Undercurrents and Choices

The setting sun bathed the courtyard of the Senju family mansion in a warm orange-red glow, lengthening the shadows cast by the eaves. When Shuji pushed open the gate, Granny Momoka was standing with her back to him, intently pruning the branches of a potted pine tree. The subtle sound of the pruning shears cutting and slicing was exceptionally clear in the quiet air.

"Grandma, I'm back." Shuji's voice broke the silence.

Granny Taohua didn't stop moving; she merely nodded very slightly as a response.

"How did the assessment go?" Her voice was flat, revealing no emotion.

"Passed. Special Jonin qualification."

"Ah."

After a brief silence, Shuuji spoke again, his voice lower: "The examiners were two from the Anbu. One had silver hair and was very strong in both Lightning Release and Taijutsu; the other... used Wood Release."

This time, Granny Momoka stopped. She put down the silver scissors, turned around, and faced Shuji directly. Her eyes, which had suddenly become sharp, locked onto him with an unprecedented scrutiny: "You used Wood Release to deal with it?"

"No." Shuji shook his head, meeting her gaze. "I only used ordinary escape techniques."

Granny Taohua remained silent. Only the rustling of leaves in the evening breeze filled the courtyard. After a long while, a sneer escaped her lips:

“Hiruzen, Hiruzen…” her voice was not loud, “You’ve gotten so old.”

"Grandma, you knew about this Wood Release ninja all along?" Shuji asked.

"Hmm." Granny Taohua did not deny it, picked up the scissors again, but did not continue trimming, only unconsciously rubbing the cold metal handle.

“That child… his codename in the Anbu was ‘Tenzo,’ and before that, in Danzo’s Root, his codename was ‘Kō.’ He was a defective product… built up by Danzo and Orochimaru with human lives.” Her voice lowered. “Although he survived by sheer luck and can produce some useful material, he is worlds apart from Lord Hashirama. And you…” Her gaze fell on Shuji again, carrying a complex and unreadable meaning, “are also different.”

Shuji's pupils contracted sharply. Orochimaru and Danzo's Wood Release experiment... Kabuto! Tenzo! The old woman clearly knew these code names...

"You... were involved?" Shuuji's voice lowered unconsciously, carrying a hint of disbelief and inquiry.

Granny Taohua stopped scissors in her hand. She raised her eyes, her gaze like a quenched blade, piercing deeply into Xiu Si's eyes.

This scrutiny was sharper than before, carrying an implication of assessing his resilience. The air in the corridor seemed to freeze, and even the evening breeze discreetly avoided the area.

After a long silence, Granny Taohua slowly spoke: "In the initial Hashirama cell implantation experiment, most of the volunteers were outstanding and trustworthy people, that is, 'us'. However, the sacrifices were too great, and the village could not bear it, so it was stopped in the open."

"However, the village still wants a way to control the tailed beast. If they can't use it themselves, they'll use an outsider."

"In the end, we tacitly allowed Danzo and Orochimaru to do it. As for us, since it's a cell experiment by Lord Hashirama, we'll inevitably participate in some way."

Her words were like a cold hammer, striking Shuji's heart again and again, revealing the festering sores beneath Konoha's glossy exterior.

However, to Granny Tao Hua's surprise, Xiu Si's face did not show the intense emotional fluctuations she had anticipated. His brows remained slightly furrowed, and although his eyes held solemnity and contemplation, he strangely maintained an almost cold calm.

There were no angry accusations, no disillusioned sorrow, only a... quietude, as if it had been foreseen and was being processed and understood. Granny Taohua's heart stirred slightly. This child's reaction was strange. Too composed.

What should a fourteen-year-old boy feel upon suddenly hearing such a dark secret? Looking at his calm profile, the thought that had grown stronger since his return from serious injury—the desire for him to live safely—instantly overwhelmed all other complex thoughts.

"You..." Granny Taohua's voice carried a hint of inquiry, but her tone softened unconsciously, tinged with the worry of an elder, "Aren't you angry about what the village has done? Aren't you... disillusioned?"

Shuji was silent for a moment. His gaze passed over Granny Peach Blossom and fell once again on the stone lantern standing silently in the corner of the courtyard in the twilight, the dark green moss climbing on it appearing particularly tenacious in the dim light.

“Individual moral standards cannot be used to constrain a large group that prioritizes survival and power. Similarly, they cannot be used to simply judge a leader who has to make choices in a harsh reality.” He paused, his gaze returning to Granny Tao Hua’s face, his eyes deep. “Survival and development themselves are the greatest right. Whether something is dirty or not… depends on what it is ultimately for, and… whether there are less dirty options.”

"Private morality can neither restrain the behemoth of the collective nor serve as the sole yardstick for measuring leaders trudging through the mire."

These words, like a stone thrown into a deep pool, stirred up violent ripples in Granny Peach Blossom's otherwise calm heart.

The profound insight and almost coldly pragmatic rationality contained in these words made Granny Taohua realize for the first time so clearly that the child she had raised with her own hands seemed... different.

That composure, that understanding of the world's complexity and cruel rules, far surpassed his physical age. A genuine surprise, mixed with indescribable complex emotions, swept through her heart.

"The village needs power to keep the tailed beasts in check, that's true."

"But aren't the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan supposed to be able to control tailed beasts? If it's a matter of great importance, could they..."

"Uchiha?"

Granny Taohua looked as if she had heard something utterly absurd, her eyes filled with the gaze of someone looking at an innocent child.

"Ha, in the fifty-four years since Konoha was founded, their Sharingan, which they are so proud of, has been used to control tailed beasts twice!"

"The first time was when Madara Uchiha attacked the village with the Nine-Tails. The second time was three years ago, during the Nine-Tails' rampage!"

"The Sharingan once again took control of the Nine-Tails, wreaking havoc in the village. The village lost the Fourth Hokage, more than a dozen Jonin, and hundreds of Chunin and Genin who died trying to draw the Nine-Tails' attention."

"This ability to 'control the tailed beasts,' in the hands of the Uchiha, is like a sharp blade hanging over the village, ready to fall at any moment!"

Shuji fell silent. He couldn't refute the bloody truth.

Leaving aside Madara Uchiha, the impact of the Nine-Tails' rampage three years ago is still expanding.

"Do we need to respond to this probing?" Shuuji steered the conversation back to the more pressing reality, his tone returning to its previous calm, as if the heavy conversation about the Uchiha had never happened.

Granny Taohua's sharp gaze seemed to pierce through his calm exterior, trying to discern his true thoughts. After a long while, she sighed.

“…Never mind.” She waved her hand, as if brushing away invisible dust from her eyes. “I will make the arrangements.”

(End of this chapter)